Pope Francis presided at the Vigil of the Marian Jubilee in St. Peter’s Square. The Jubilee began on the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary

The full prepared text of Pope Francis for the Vigil of the Marian Jubilee is below

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In this Vigil we have pondered the fundamental moments of the life of Jesus in company with Mary. In mind and heart, we have returned to the time of the fulfilment of Christ’s mission in the world. The Resurrection, as a sign of the extreme love of the Father who restores everything to life and as a foreshadowing of our future state. The Ascension, as a sharing in the Father’s glory, where even our humanity finds a privileged place. Pentecost, as the expression of the Church’s mission in history until the end of time, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In the last two mysteries, we have also contemplated the Virgin Mary in the glory of heaven. From the earliest centuries, Mary has been invoked as Mother of Mercy.

The prayer of the rosary is, in many ways, the synthesis of the history of God's mercy, which becomes a history of salvation for all who let themselves be shaped by grace. The mysteries we have contemplated are concrete events by which God’s intervention on our behalf develops. Through prayer and meditation on the life of Jesus Christ, we see once more his merciful countenance, which he shows to everyone in all the many needs of life. Mary accompanies us along this journey, pointing to her Son who radiates the very mercy of the Father. She is truly Hodegetria, the Mother who points to the path we are called to take in order to be true disciples of Jesus. In each mystery of the rosary, we feel her closeness and we contemplate her as the first disciple of her Son, for she does the Father’s will (cf. Lk 8:19-21).

Praying the rosary does not remove us from the problems of life. On the contrary, it demands that we immerse ourselves in the history of each day, so as to grasp the signs of Christ’s presence in our midst. Whenever we contemplate an event, a mystery of the life of Christ, we are asked to reflect on how God comes into our own lives, so as to be able to welcome him and follow him. In this way, we discover how we can follow Christ by serving our brothers and sisters. By accepting and making our own certain outstanding events in the life of Jesus, we share in his work of evangelization, so that God’s Kingdom can increase and spread in the world. We are disciples, but also missionaries, bringing Christ wherever he asks us to be present. So we cannot keep the gift of his presence within us. On the contrary, we are called to share with everyone his love, his tenderness, his goodness and his mercy. It is the joy of sharing that stops at nothing, for it brings a message of freedom and salvation.

Mary helps us to understand what it means to be a disciple of Christ. Eternally chosen to be his Mother, she learned to become his disciple. Her first act was to listen to God. She obeyed the message of the Angel and opened her heart to receive the mystery of divine motherhood. She followed Jesus, listening to every word that issued from his lips (cf. Mk 3:31-35). She kept all those things in her heart (cf. Lk 2:19) and became the living memory of the signs worked by God’s Son to awaken our faith. But is not enough simply to listen. That is certainly the first step, but listening then needs to be translated into concrete action. The disciple truly puts his life at the service of the Gospel.

So it is that the Virgin Mary went immediately to Elizabeth to help her in her pregnancy (cf. Lk 1:39-56). In Bethlehem she gave birth to the Son of God (cf. Lk 2:1-7). In Cana she showed her concern for two young spouses (cf. Jn 2:1-11). At Golgotha she did not flee pain but stood beneath the cross of Jesus and, by his will, became the Mother of the Church (cf. Jn 19:25-27). After the resurrection, she encouraged the apostles assembled in the Upper Room as they awaited the Holy Spirit who would make them fearless heralds of the Gospel (cf. Acts 1:14). Throughout her life, Mary did everything that the Church is asked to do in perennial memory of Christ. In her faith, we learn to open our hearts to obey God; in her self-denial, we see the importance of tending to the needs of others; in her tears, we find the strength to console those experiencing pain. In each of these moments, Mary expresses the wealth of divine mercy that reaches out to all in their daily needs.

This evening let us invoke our loving heavenly Mother with the oldest prayer that Christians have addressed to her, especially at times of trouble and martyrdom. Let us invoke her, in the certainty of being aided by her maternal mercy, so that she, “glorious and blessed”, can be a protection, help and blessing for us all the days of our life:

“We fly to your protection, holy Mother of God. Scorn not our petitions in the hour of need. O glorious and blessed Virgin, deliver us always from every peril”.

Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary TimeLectionary: 466

Reading 1GAL 3:22-29

Brothers and sisters:Scripture confined all things under the power of sin,that through faith in Jesus Christthe promise might be given to those who believe.

Before faith came, we were held in custody under law,confined for the faith that was to be revealed.Consequently, the law was our disciplinarian for Christ,that we might be justified by faith.But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian.For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus.For all of you who were baptized into Christhave clothed yourselves with Christ.There is neither Jew nor Greek,there is neither slave nor free person,there is not male and female;for you are all one in Christ Jesus.And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants,heirs according to the promise.

Responsorial PsalmPS 105:2-3, 4-5, 6-7

R. (8a) The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.or:R. Alleluia.Sing to him, sing his praise,proclaim all his wondrous deeds.Glory in his holy name;rejoice, O hearts that seek the LORD!R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.or:R. Alleluia.Look to the LORD in his strength;seek to serve him constantly.Recall the wondrous deeds that he has wrought,his portents, and the judgments he has uttered.R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.or:R. Alleluia.You descendants of Abraham, his servants,sons of Jacob, his chosen ones!He, the LORD, is our God;throughout the earth his judgments prevail.R. The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.or:R. Alleluia.

AlleluiaLK 11:28

R. Alleluia, alleluia.Blessed are those who hear the word of Godand observe it.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 11:27-28

While Jesus was speaking,a woman from the crowd called out and said to him,“Blessed is the womb that carried youand the breasts at which you nursed.”He replied, “Rather, blessed are thosewho hear the word of God and observe it.”

VIRGINFeast: October 8Information:Feast Day:October 8She was a tender virgin at Antioch, only fifteen years of age when she was apprehended by the persecutors in 311. Being alone in the house, and understanding that their errand was to carry her before the judge, where her chastity might be in danger, she desired leave of the soldiers to go up stairs and dress herself. But fearing to be an innocent occasion to others' sin, threw herself from the top of the house, and died on the spot by her fall: in which action, says St. Chrysostom, she had Jesus in her breast inspiring and exhorting her. She probably hoped to escape by that means; and might lawfully expose her life to some danger for the preservation of her chastity; but nothing will ever make it lawful for any one directly to procure his own death.Whoever deliberately lays violent hands upon himself is guilty of a heinous injury against God, the Lord of his life, against the commonwealth, which he robs of a member, and of that comfort and assistance which he owes to it; also against his friends, children, and lastly against himself, both by destroying his corporeal life, and by the spiritual and eternal death of his soul; this crime being usually connected with final impenitence, and eternal enmity with God, and everlasting damnation. Nor can a name be found sufficiently to express the baseness of soul, and utmost excess of pusillanimity, impatience, and cowardice, which suicide implies. Strange that any nation should, by false prejudices, be able so far to extinguish the most evident principles of reason and the voice of nature, as to deem that an action of courage which springs from a total want of that heroic virtue of the soul. The same is to be said of the detestable practice of duels. True fortitude incites and enables a man to bear all manner of affronts, and to undergo all humiliations, dangers, hardships, and torments, for the sake of virtue and duty. What is more contrary to this heroic disposition, what can be imagined more dastardly, than not to be able to put up a petty affront and rather to offend against all laws divine and human, than to brook an injury or bear a misfortune with patience and constancy, than to observe the holy precept of Christ, who declares this to be his favorite commandment, the distinguishing mark of his followers, and the very soul of the divine law! Mention is made of a church at Antioch, and another at Constantinople, which bore the name of this saint in the fifth century.SOURCE:The Catholic Encyclopedia

Friday, October 7, 2016

The death toll from Hurricane Matthew has hit 842. The majority of deaths are from Haiti (800) The hurricane traveled through several Caribbean countries this week. It hit the Dominican Republic and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Haiti, is still recovering from the devastating 2010 earthquake. A UN representative for Haiti, described Matthew as the "largest humanitarian event" since the earthquake. Homes have been destroyed and villages flooded. A state of Emergency has been declared by President Obama as the Hurricane has hit Florida. Three million people were evacuated from Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina. Please PRAY...

Pope Francis met the participants of the General Chapter of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI)

His exhortation came in a private audience in the Vatican’ Clementine Hall on Friday, as the Oblates celebrate the 200th anniversary since their founding.

Below is a Vatican Radio English translation of the Pope’s address:

Dear brothers,

It is with particular joy that I welcome you, who represent a missionary religious Family dedicated to evangelization in the Church. I greet you all with affection, beginning with the newly-elected Superior General and his Council. You are here for the General Chapter, in the year in which you celebrate the bicentennial of your foundation through the work of St. Eugene de Mazenod, a young priest eager to respond to the call of the Spirit. At the beginning of its history, your Congregation labored to reignite the faith, which the French Revolution was extinguishing in the hearts of the poor in rural Provence, overwhelming also many ministers of the Church. In the space of a few decades, it expanded throughout the five continents, continuing on the path begun by the Founder, a man who loved Jesus with passion and the Church without conditions.

Today you are called to renew this twofold love, remembering the two hundred year lifespan of your religious Institutes. Your jubilee, for a fortuitous and providential coincidence, occurs in the Jubilee of Mercy. Indeed, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate were born from an experience of mercy, lived by the young Eugene one Good Friday in the presence of Jesus crucified. May mercy be ever at the heart of your mission, of your efforts of evangelization in the world today. On the day of his canonization, St. John Paul II defined Father de Mazenod a ‘man of Advent’, docile to the Holy Spirit in reading the signs of the times and aiding the work of God in the story of the Church. May these characteristics be present in you, his children. May you also be ‘men of Advent’, capable of discerning the signs of the new times and guiding your brothers on the paths which God opens in the Church and in the world.

The Church is living, together with the entire world, an epoch of great transformation in the most diverse areas. She needs men who carry in their hearts the love of Jesus Christ, which permeated the heart of the young Eugene de Mazenod, and the same unconditional love for the Church, which seeks to be a house ever more open. It is important to toil for a Church for all, ready to welcome and accompany! The work necessary to realize all this is vast; and you also have your specific contribution to make.

Your missionary history is the history of many consecrated persons, who offered and sacrificed their lives for the mission, for the poor, to reach distant lands whose people were still ‘without a pastor’. Today, every land is a ‘missionary land’, every human dimension is a missionary land, which awaits the proclamation of the Gospel. Pope Pius XI defined you ‘specialists in difficult missions’. The scope of the mission today seems to expand every day, embracing ever new poor people – men and women with the face of Christ who plead for help, consolation, and hope in the most desperate situations of life. Therefore, you are needed: your missionary daring and your availability to bring to all the Good News, which frees and consoles.

May the joy of the Gospel shine above all on your faces and make you joyful witnesses. Following the example of the Founder, may ‘among yourselves practice charity’ be your first rule of life and the premise of every apostolic action; and may ‘zeal for the salvation of souls’ be the natural consequence of your fraternal charity.

During these days of work at the Chapter, you have expanded your vision and hearts to envelope the expanse of the world. May this fraternal experience of prayer, confrontation, and communitarian discernment be a stimulus for a new missionary drive – a point-of-departure for new horizons – to reach new poor people and bring them together with you to encounter Christ the Redeemer. Adequate, evangelical, and courageous responses to the questioning of the men and women of our time must be sought. For this reason, look to the past with gratitude, live the present with passion, and embrace the future with hope, without becoming discouraged by the difficulties you encounter in the mission but rather be strengthened by faithfulness to your religious and missionary vocation.

As your religious Family enters its third century of life, may the Lord allow you to write new and evangelically fruitful pages, like those of your brothers who throughout these 200 years have testified – at times with blood – to a great love of Christ and the Church. You are Oblates of Mary Immaculate. May this name, defined by St. Eugene as ‘a passport to Heaven’, be for you a constant commitment to the mission. May Our Lady sustain your steps, especially in moments of trial. I ask you, please, to pray to her also for me. May my Blessing, which I wholeheartedly impart upon you and your entire Congregation, accompany your path.

Say this prayer along with the Rosary for nine days. My dearest Mother Mary, behold me, your child, in prayer at your feet. Accept this Holy Rosary, which I offer you in accordance with your requests at Fatima, as a proof of my tender love for you, for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in atonement for the offenses committed against your Immaculate Heart, and for this special favor which I earnestly request in my Rosary Novena: (Mention your request). I beg you to present my petition to your Divine Son. If you will pray for me, I cannot be refused. I know, dearest Mother, that you want me to seek God's holy Will concerning my request. If what I ask for should not be granted, pray that I may receive that which will be of greater benefit to my soul. I offer you this spiritual "Bouquet of Roses" because I love you. I put all my confidence in you, since your prayers before God are most powerful. For the greater glory of God and for the sake of Jesus, your loving Son, hear and grant my prayer. Sweet Heart of Mary, be my salvation.

Memorial of Our Lady of the RosaryLectionary: 465

Reading 1GAL 3:7-14

Brothers and sisters:Realize that it is those who have faithwho are children of Abraham.Scripture, which saw in advance that Godwould justify the Gentiles by faith,foretold the good news to Abraham, saying,Through you shall all the nations be blessed.Consequently, those who have faith are blessedalong with Abraham who had faith.For all who depend on works of the law are under a curse;for it is written, Cursed be everyonewho does not persevere in doing all the thingswritten in the book of the law.And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear,for the one who is righteous by faith will live.But the law does not depend on faith;rather, the one who does these things will live by them.Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us,for it is written, Cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree,that the blessing of Abraham might be extendedto the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Responsorial PsalmPS 111:1B-2, 3-4, 5-6

R. (5) The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heartin the company and assembly of the just.Great are the works of the LORD,exquisite in all their delights.R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.Majesty and glory are his work,and his justice endures forever.He has won renown for his wondrous deeds;gracious and merciful is the LORD.R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.He has given food to those who fear him;he will forever be mindful of his covenant.He has made known to his people the power of his works,giving them the inheritance of the nations.R. The Lord will remember his covenant for ever.

AlleluiaJN 12:31B-32

R. Alleluia, alleluia.The prince of this world will now be cast out,and when I am lifted up from the earthI will draw all to myself, says the Lord.R. Alleluia, alleluia.

GospelLK 11:15-26

When Jesus had driven out a demon, some of the crowd said:“By the power of Beelzebul, the prince of demons,he drives out demons.”Others, to test him, asked him for a sign from heaven.But he knew their thoughts and said to them,“Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid wasteand house will fall against house.And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?For you say that it is by Beelzebul that I drive out demons.If I, then, drive out demons by Beelzebul,by whom do your own people drive them out?Therefore they will be your judges.But if it is by the finger of God that I drive out demons,then the Kingdom of God has come upon you.When a strong man fully armed guards his palace,his possessions are safe.But when one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him,he takes away the armor on which he reliedand distributes the spoils.Whoever is not with me is against me,and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

“When an unclean spirit goes out of someone,it roams through arid regions searching for restbut, finding none, it says,‘I shall return to my home from which I came.’But upon returning, it finds it swept clean and put in order.Then it goes and brings back seven other spiritsmore wicked than itself who move in and dwell there,and the last condition of that man is worse than the first.”

Apart from the signal defeat of the Albigensian heretics at the battle of Muret in 1213 which legend has attributed to the recitation of the Rosary by St. Dominic, it is believed that Heaven has on many occasions rewarded the faith of those who had recourse to this devotion in times of special danger. More particularly, the naval victory of Lepanto gained by Don John of Austria over the Turkish fleet on the first Sunday of October in 1571 responded wonderfully to the processions made at Rome on that same day by the members of the Rosary confraternity. St. Pius V thereupon ordered that a commemoration of the Rosary should be made upon that day, and at the request of the Dominican Order Gregory XIII in 1573 allowed this feast to be kept in all churches which possessed an altar dedicated to the Holy Rosary. In 1671 the observance of this festival was extended by Clement X to the whole of Spain, and somewhat later Clement XI after the important victory over the Turks gained by Prince Eugene on 6 August, 1716 (the feast of our Lady of the Snows), at Peterwardein in Hungary, commanded the feast of the Rosary to be celebrated by the universal Church. A set of "proper" lessons in the second nocturn were conceded by Benedict XIII. Leo XIII has since raised the feast to the rank of a double of the second class and has added to the Litany of Loreto the invocation "Queen of the Most Holy Rosary". On this feast, in every church in which the Rosary confraternity has been duly erected, a plenary indulgence toties quoties is granted upon certain conditions to all who visit therein the Rosary chapel or statue of Our Lady. This has been called the "Portiuncula" of the Rosary. Text shared from the Catholic Encyclopedia